Volunteering at "Tent of Nations" for Peace

 

I will simply paste Emma s e.mail that she wrote so beautifully to our "White Stone Associates" as those who are reading this blog are all friends. This is the Association that owns the land at Mount of Oaks, and are mainly friends and supporters from all over the world who either pray for us, contribute with donations regularly or occasionally, or live around MoO and are active participants in our many diverse activities. If you want to become an Associate get in touch through the link I have here on the left column, for Mount of Oaks website.

I do have a few posts I wrote about my time at "Tent of Nations" in 2006 if you are interested to read. I know things are very different now as the Israeli settlements grew significantly, but I'm hoping to find the spirits of the beautiful Nassar family the same or stronger. An incredible example of peaceful resistance and resilience.

Here are the links if you are interested in more reading from 2006 :

https://shantipilgrim.blogspot.com/2006/09/tent-of-nationsa-place-of-peace-in.html

https://shantipilgrim.blogspot.com/2006/09/tent-of-nations-other-projects.html?m=0

And here's Emma's message:

Dear friends and associates, Barbara and I are planning a journey to the farm/peace project Tent of Nations in Israel-Palestine late August. We would like to invite you to consider joining us in solidarity with the Nassar family there. As you might know this year is a different year for us, leaving the land and animals in the capable hands of our precious brother Francisco, while we make various pilgrimages to various places and to connect with friends, family, projects and people connected to the work of peace and reconciliation.

Barbara left on her bike from Mount of Oaks on the 3rd of June and is currently in France making her way to Taize, a monastic community of prayer, silence and peace, and then north,towards England and then to Ireland to meet me there in a few weeks. She is wearing her yellow high viz vest with the COEXIST symbols from the various world religions on her back and a little flag she made attached to the front of the bike Basket. She has already had many encounters that I hope she will share with the wider network.

As for me, I will leave the farm on Summer Solstice, Sunday with the pilgrim pack to walk the coastal route of the Camino de Santiago and fly to Dublin 4th July. I'll be in Ireland, north and south for some family reunions and to reconnect with Corrymeela (https://www.corrymeela.org/about/our-history) members in July, and walking in the west of Ireland early August with some friends. We will return to  Portugal for a brief spell in August (14th - 24th) to prepare for the Solidarity trip, perhaps organising a fundraiser for Tent of Nations on Friday 21st August with live music and a chance to share with our local community about the nature of the trip and our volunteering plans. More news of this to come.

We are going to travel to Tel Aviv with the German Mennonite Peace Committee, which will organize the trip and support us in volunteering. This will be our first time travelling with the Mennonite community, though we have deep appreciation for the peace and justice theology of the denomination. I encountered some incredible people connected to CPT in Hebron and have followed the work of the Mennonites Peace committees. We will also connect with friends from "Sulha" Peace Movement (https://www.sulha.org.il/) and people of all faiths and none who are working for dialogue and peaceful change in Haifa, Nazareth, Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

If all the plans materialise we will volunteer at Tent of Nations for 3 weeks with the Nassar family and be at service to whatever is needed there - perhaps working on the solar system. Our aim is to bring our experiences back to our local community, share with my spiritual community of Corrymeela in Northern Ireland, and also write articles for Portuguese faith based publications. We very much look forward to getting to know the others we will travel with on this special journey, and trust that our experiences on this trip will create lasting bonds between us and the communities we represent.

Barbara has already been to the region once before as part of a peace convoy I was part of and visited Tent of Nations in 2006. I have been visiting the region since 2003 and on many occasions volunteered at the Tent of Nations - many of you will remember us raising funds for tree planting or the legal fees for the family over the years - and many of you already contributed when I cut off my dreadlocks, or when we asked for donations to the project instead of wedding gifts for our Love Celebration in 2011! Its been quite incredible to re-read my masters thesis that I completed in 2008, entitled 'Rituals for Peacemaking in Israel and Palestine' to complete my M(Phil) at Trinity College Dublin at the School of Ecumenics. Im realising that the work of conflict transformation is not a linear process - the spiraling nature of this commitment to non-violence continues to breath through so many of us in our daily lives, here and there and everywhere. 

The messages continue to resonate. The creativity and resilience requires us to walk the walk, talk the talk and take risks for peace. Going back to meet the land and people who are involved in peacemaking and community building this August is part of my/our ongoing commitment to supporting those on the frontline and being able to circulate other narratives of what is happening on the ground in the region.

We would like to invite you to consider making a small contribution to support Tent of Nations while we are there as the Nassar family struggles to stay on their land. If you could offer a gift of any amount, we would be most glad to bring it to Bethlehem and offer it. You can sent it to the below IBAN with the designation "Tent of Nations."

Name: White Stone
IBAN PT50 0035 0339 00059421630 49
BIC SWIFT CGDIPTPL

or via Paypal at: whitestone2004@gmail.com

"Each culture gives a different meaning to 'peace' and 'conflict'. The Talmud asks: 'Who is a hero?' and the rabbis of the Talmud answer "One who changes an enemy into an ally." (Paul Pedersen in Cultural Constructions of Conflict and Peace) This quote reminds me of the words painted on a stone at the entry to the Tent of Nations project, and one of the mottos repeated by Daoud and Dahr Nassar - 'We refuse to be enemies'

With all the unrest we witness from north to south, east to west, we ask that you join us in praying and acting in small way and significant ways to be the change we want to see in the world. We also join in solidarity with friends who have been organising and walking on the Peace Walk paths. This project is a 15 month collective pilgrimage from Europe to Jerusalem and you can check the progress of the walkers and learn more at https://peacewalk.info/ . We will likely join for some legs of this pilgrimage in late Autumn and next year through Turkey or Syria. Do follow this project and even consider if you want to join with us for a week or so.... Ulrike, Ulli and Anne, all sisters and associates of White Stone have been participating in the Peace Walk and we can put you in contact with them directly if you want to know more of their experiences.

For now, we ask you to consider giving towards the Tent of Nations and holding us in your prayers as we prepare for the trips ahead.

Thank you with all of our hearts,

Many blessings.

Peace,

Emma and Barbara."